


Bandaid

by trueheirofslytherin



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Beth and Hannah are dead, But first, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Post-Game(s), Sam dated Beth pre-game and there will be Sam/Josh later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-11 01:03:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12923997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trueheirofslytherin/pseuds/trueheirofslytherin
Summary: "Talking about it will help, Josh. It's like ripping off a bandaid.""You don't rip it off if you're still bleeding."~Josh is under medically issued house arrest being treated by the real Dr. Hill. The focus starts on his recovery but there will be parts about how the others are coping.





	Bandaid

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry I don't post much smut. I'm a sad girl not a sexy girl lmao

Josh blinked at the photographs on Dr. Hill’s wall. They weren’t the horrible, gruesome depictions that he had imagined them to be. Instead, they were landscapes of rolling hills and clear, winding rivers. The room was bright, lit by the natural daylight shining through the open window, allowing a gentle breeze to caress Josh’s skin.

“Welcome back, Josh,” Dr. Hill said, taking the seat on the other side of the desk, and setting down two mugs of decaffeinated coffee.

Josh nodded his thanks, but made no move to drink.

“I understand that you’ve had a relapse.”

Josh met Dr. Hill’s eyes. Gone was the evil glint that haunted Josh’s thoughts. In its place was a sort of kindness, softened further by the sympathetic curve of the doctor’s brow.

“They made me do it,” Josh croaked, his throat painfully dry. He had neglected his body’s most basic needs, focusing only on the guilt that smothered him every second. As a result he was frail and trembling, and had a certain greyness tinting his skin. “It was the only way they’d forgive me.”

The group was alive and fairly well. All of them were undergoing therapy to cope with the happenings in the mountains. Josh had been sentenced to house arrest for the safety of himself and others. Dr. Hill had agreed to see him weekly, which was Josh’s only trip out of the house. This was his first appointment after two weeks of heavy medicating and bed rest.

Mike was surprisingly the one to refuse to leave Josh behind. He had torn him from the grasps of the wendigo and dragged him to safety. None of them had attempted to contact Josh, but he had learnt from listening in to his parents’ conversations that the group were doing well. Mike and Jessica were happy, Emily and Matt had come to understand one another better, Ashley and Chris were finally together, and Sam was relaxing at home without the stress of listening to her friends arguing or being tortured.

“Joshua, please talk to me.”

Dr. Hill’s gentle request startled Josh from his internal ramblings.

“My meds are working. I’m tired all of the time.”

“How do you feel about what happened, Josh?”

Josh sighed, a lump forming in his throat. He grabbed the mug in front of him and swallowed the coffee, attempting to wash away the need to cry.

It didn’t work.

It began with one tear, leaking from his left eye.

“I had to do it. For Hannah and Beth,” he rasped, taking a deep breath before choking out a desperate sob.

“They never blamed you Josh. They would never blame you for what happened.”

Josh’s eyes burned as scalding tears trickled like a leaking tap down his cheeks, dampening the soft, blue material of his pyjamas. He missed his sisters. As cruel as they had been, the current absence of their voices caused a deep emptiness in Josh that he could never truly fill. The medication had killed his sisters all over again, silencing them, leaving Josh an only child once more.

“Talking about it will help, Josh. It’s like ripping off a bandaid.”

Josh scowled down at his lap, where his hands fidgeted awkwardly.

“You don’t rip it off if you’re still bleeding,” Josh whispered.


End file.
